Just cut the thousands and thousands of work permits that Hubert Minnis, Elsworth Johnson, Frankie Campbell and Darren Henfield have wrongfully arranged to be issued to illegal Haitian aliens since Hurrican Dorian.

Who you gonna replace us with John? The people that can't figure out how to bring their own bags to the store?

Government needs to decide what message it wants to put out. On the one hand you have them desperate for FDI which will naturally lead to work permits. On the other they say they want to get rid of work permits. So which one is it. I know one thing, in the financial industry whilst the black listing hurts, off the cuff statements from Government members on immigration will do more to let a potential investor decide Cayman, BVI or others are a better choice then anything else. The Government needs to all be on the same page and then go with it, and realize things they say to local people and local press make its way onto the internet and therefore the world.
On the issue with cooks, if there are no work permits issued, then raid those restaurants and deport those who are working without the correct work permits AND throw the employer into jail until a large fine has been paid. if you don't do that ain't nothing going to change.

John Pinder should tell us WHO owns these 40,000 work permits …….. SMT

That is the big gorilla in the country ………… Who are these people working in our country, while our young professionals leave the country and do not come back after college?????

And when our youth reach Grade 9 and cannot pass BJCs, it is time to send them to Technical High Schools for skills training ……… not taking up space in these public babysitting centres.

Smoke and mirrors blaming foreigners is an old ploy governments use to polarize and influence people voting.

Blaming people on work permits for their own mismanagement of the country is a total cop out.

If the government did what they are supposed to at immigration, speed up the process, make workers feel secure to come and GO and you wouldn't have any immigration issues.

**Unfortunately, even eyes the comrade labour leader are unsure?**
Any reporting **actual number active Work Permits** is a well-guarded cabinet file - kept concealed away from colony's much too nosy PopulacesOrdinary - but reliable sources say the number can be on north side **28,333** currently active work permits - **with many employers still in debt to the government for the fees?**

20,000.....30,000....40,000...???.. Work Permits. on small Sovereign Nation ...most populated island 7 x 21 miles and on few other islands. The impact on the nation and the lives of the Work Permit workers and their families on the nation needs to be thoroughly examined. The occasional outbursts are just crap coming from govt paid salaried employees who supposed to have the best interests of the nation.

40,000 Work Permit holders...??? Seems to be a formidable force, majority just in limbo idle hands, floating trying for next job.

For every expat I have to let go, I will be firing 10 Bahamians who can work without the technical supervision.

It’s your choice you joker politicians

**FINALLY**...John Pinder is addressing this "non-essential" ex-pat work permit issue that negatively affects the country nationally on several levels.

Hubert Ingraham, Perry Christie, and Brent Symonnette are the 3 stooges responsible for inundating the country with non-essential ex-pat workers mainly because between the three of them they were incapable of managing and stimulating sustainable economic growth.

In their combined wisdom, they decided selling $40M+ in work permits for immediate gains was a solution to raising badly needed capital. However, they never stopped to consider the longterm negative financial impact of 30,000+ mostly blue-collar ex-pats for the most part not contributing to the local economy AND repatriating huge portions of earnings to home countries.

Simonette, Ingraham, and Christie unwittingly created the biggest unemployment disaster causing the contraction of the commercial banking sector in our history!

Obviously, the Minnis administration and John Pinder recognize this failure and are looking into reversing the problem by getting rid of all "non-essential" ex-pats holding jobs that Bahamians are qualified to do.

The keywords here are "Bahamians qualified" to do!

Haitians, Filipinos, and Latinos working in domestic capacities regardless of academics are totally unacceptable. No Bahamian could get a work permit in the Philippians for domestic labor or anything else a Filipino can even remotely do.

The bottom line is, the Bahamas doesn't have to reinvent the wheel with the ex-pat issue. The Cayman Islands has an efficient immigration protocol that we could adapt.

A Bahamian business cannot demand a change in immigration laws in another country. Any company that doesn't want to abide by our immigration laws should be expeditiously shown the exit door!

Correct, a bahamian could not get a domestic labour work permit in the Philippians.
Notice, in contrast to the bahamas, their people will do this work.

Also notice, you have migrant hatian, jamaican, bajan, workers all over, but you dont see migrant bahamian workers around the region,because our people don't work.

Wow, all of a sudden I'm back in '70-73...........
I agree with Chucky, for every expat chased out 10 Bahamians will lose jobs, and decent paying jobs too.
I cannot believe we the people gobble up and succumb to this ancient broken record.
Why not just cancel tourist visas? more direct and to the point for your Xenophobic garbage.